Date Everything!

PS5, Xbox, Switch, PC** **Have you ever wanted to romance your record player? Date Everything! offers players the chance to develop relationships with everyday objects around your house, in a fully voiced sandbox romp featuring over 100 anthropomorphised characters. Wonderfully meta; you can put the moves on the textbox, or even “Michael Transaction” (microtransaction – get it?) himself. Meghan Ellis

Sorry We’re Closed

PS4/5, Xbox, Switch, PC** **A raucous debut by indie studio à la mode games, Sorry We’re Closed is a survival horror where the monster is love and the dungeon is a dingy London neighbourhood. Fight demons, fend off unwanted admirers and survive work shifts in this queer, neon homage to 1990s PlayStation-era horror. ME

Clues by Sam

Web browser** **The trick of this daily logic puzzle is that you can’t guess, or make wrong answers. Presented with a grid of characters, you must identify the “innocent” and the “criminal” based on clues revealed with each correct answer. But the game will only accept an answer if it’s sure you know it for a fact. An idealistic vision of a criminal justice system. Duncan Fyfe

Blippo+

Switch, Playdate, PC** **Blippo+ is a channel surfing simulator that rides the line between video game and absurd cable subscription service. Experienced entirely by trawling through the interface of a virtual TV guide, you can tune into intergalactic music videos, curious cooking shows, and psychic weather reports, learning an alien culture through charming live-action skits that evoke the sketch comedy of Tim and Eric. Sarah Thwaites

Out of this world … Blippo+. Photograph: Panic

Stray Children

Switch, PC** **A sequel in all but name to Love-de-Lic’s 1997 role-playing game satire Moon, Stray Children is a monster-taming adventure where you whisper away the worries of troubled “Olders” that have come to dominate the inhabitants of an unfinished video game. Finessed by a crunchy pixel art style and a combat system inspired by Undertale, this nostalgic odyssey will pull on your heartstrings while testing your reflexes at the same time. ST

BALL x PIT

PS5, Xbox, Switch, Switch 2, PC** **A fiendish, almost cruelly addictive mashup of Vampire Survivors-esque monster horde control and Breakout-style ball-bouncing. Descend into a pit full of demons and shoot a continuous stream of richocheting, burning, poisonous and otherwise deadly balls at them until the screen is just a brain-melting confusion of visual effects. *Keza MacDonald *

To a T

PS5, Xbox, PC** **You are a cheerful pubescent boy with a unique problem: your arms are stuck out in a T-pose. How do you navigate school, family, friendships and brushing your teeth when you can’t bend your arms? A sweet, family friendly slice-of-life physical comedy game with an unexpectedly affecting message, and excellent songs sung by a gourmand giraffe. KM

Wheel World

PS5, Xbox, PC** **Just a chill bike-racing game where your ride is possessed by an ancient speed spirit. Wheel around a soothingly minimalist island of cycling obsessives, picking up new swappable bike parts and blasting past local gangs of racers on downhill courses. Uncomplicated, good looking and thoughtfully put together. KM

A wheely good time … Wheel World. Photograph: Annapurna Interactive

The Drifter

PC** **Powerhoof’s excellent pixelated point-and-click game teases its dystopian plot throughout, mixing influences such as The Thing, Michael Crichton’s Coma and Total Recall. It’s an intriguing mix: combined with a heartfelt story full of painful human emotions and some fantastic audio, it’s a tense yet warming tale, guaranteed to coil its way around your heart. Graeme Mason

South of Midnight

Xbox, PC** **While the combat mechanics are familiar, it’s South of Midnight’s evocative backdrop that marks it apart. Set in an overgrown and misty American deep south, it stars Hazel, a young woman thrust into the aftermath of a hurricane and forced to battle the evil manifestations of deep-rooted sorrows. Beautiful and engaging, its soundtrack is also wonderful, perfectly complementing the uncanny scenery. GM

Skin Deep

PC** **Your task is simple in the brilliantly silly Skin Deep: save a bunch of talking cats from marauding space pirates. The execution is anything but as you crouch in vents, pull glass from your feet, and deploy sneezing powder and slippery soap bars to incapacitate your foes. Like Metal Gear Solid meets a Looney Tunes cartoon, the pleasure here lies in pushing the game’s miniature sandboxes to their slapstick limit. Lewis Gordon

Out of the bag … Skin Deep. Photograph: Annapurna Interactive

Sword of the Sea

PS5, PC** **Casting you as a knight with a hoverboard, Sword of the Sea is a mystical journey through a desert which roils like an ocean. You pull grab tricks and get big air on cresting dunes, but the greater enjoyment stems from simply soaking up the game’s breathtaking, nature-infused landscapes at high speed. A gorgeously dreamy, new age take on extreme sport. LG

The Roottrees Are Dead

PC** **If ancestry.com has yet to reveal your hidden royal lineage, try digging into the Roottree clan instead. Armed with a 1998 web browser, you have to deduce the loves, losses and lies of a sprawling candy dynasty (no relation to Rowntree). A compelling blend of Her Story and Who Do You Think You Are? Matthew Castle

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles

PS4/5, Xbox, Switch, Switch 2, PC** **Shakespearean dialogue, bruising boss battles and a tale steeped in class struggle make this a refreshingly different Final Fantasy. As you command a troupe of society’s most downtrodden, excellent voice acting lends this once silent PlayStation 1 game new life. As rewarding to play as it is affecting, in 2025, Yasumi Matsuno’s tale of inequality and division has never felt more relevant. Tom Regan

Absolum

PS4/5, Switch, PC** **Combining the best parts of Hades with the immediacy of Streets of Rage, this colourful co-operative caper is an endless delight. As you roam Talamh’s lived-in fantasy world, this roguelike rewards you with satisfying new powers and beguiling side quests. With precise combat and varied movesets, Absolum adds some much-needed depth to the oft shallow beat ’em up genre. A co-op classic. TR

Promise Mascot Agency

PS5, Xbox, Switch, PC** **If the prospect of a disgraced mobster tooling around small-town Japan accompanied by a giant depraved thumb doesn’t intrigue you, keep moving. But give Promise Mascot Agency some time and you’ll discover this compact open-world adventure is filled with chaotic charm. At its heart it’s a story of redemption, as you manage a gang of weirdo mascots and restore a dilapidated community, all while driving the best pickup truck in any video game. Christian Donlan

Eternal Strands

PS5, Xbox, PC** **Here’s a fantasy role-playing game that’s happy to embrace elemental powers, even if it leads to pinwheeling chaos. In a world where fire attacks can spread uncontrollably and ice can lead to giant dragons dropping out of the sky as their wings freeze up, this colourful piece of whimsy offers fun that genuinely scales to your own imagination. CD

Elemental … Eternal Strands. Photograph: PR

Lushfoil Photography Sim

PS5, Xbox, PC** **Matt Newell’s hymn to photography is also a gorgeous investigation into the creative power of solitude and of paying attention to your surroundings. Learn your way around a beautifully simulated digital camera, but also explore the visual potential of a range of exquisitely crafted 3D landscapes. There are no puzzles and not much in the way of scoring, just you and your ever-developing eye. CD

Rematch

**PS5, Xbox, PC **A football game that’s closer to the likes of Rocket League than it is Fifa, Rematch has you feeling as if you’re playing an actual match of five-a-side: developer Sloclap have utterly mastered the sensation and pace of charging up a field and passing between your mates before knocking the ball into the back of the net. Daniella Lucas

Baby Steps

**PS5, PC **Proof that love and hate can be two sides of the same coin, this ridiculous adventure has you taking control of a grown man in a onesie trying to remember how to walk. You have to separately control each of your legs over a series of obstacles that lead to some absurdly funny moments, but equally has you kneeling in despair as you fall, yet again, off a wooden plank while trying to get a stupid hat. Worth it though. DL

Baby Steps. Photograph: Devolver Digital

While Waiting

**Switch, PC **A game all about slowing life down, While Waiting takes mundane situations – from breaking down in your car to waiting for a delayed train – and gives you multiple choices on how to handle them. Due to the way it rewards experimentation, and squeezing the fun out of everyday moments, While Waiting has taught me how to be more patient – and that wasting time by fiddling around with things is the key to a healthy life-balance. Thomas Hobbs

Strange Antiquities

**Switch, PC **One for the Halloween-loving girlies and ghoulies, this companion to Strange Horticulture has you dealing in occult objects rather than plants. Explore gothic Cumbrian locales to find artefacts, identify them via vague tomes, solve puzzles and occasionally divert the plot by giving a customer something other than what they wanted. Jordan Erica Webber

Shop of horrors … Strange Antiquities. Photograph: Iceberg interactive

Old Skies

**Switch, PC **Developer Wadjet Eye keeps the point-and-click adventure genre alive in an apt tale of time-travelling tourism. As punters pay to revisit lost loves and settle scores, it’s your job to protect the timeline. From a timeloop farce to an urgent visit to pre-9/11 New York, Old Skies unfolds like a short story anthology. A surprise on every page. MC

Is This Seat Taken?

**Switch, PC, iOS, Android **Sudoku meets speed dating. This charming puzzle game sees you play matchmaker via seating plans, seating cute little characters together based on their hilarious pet peeves and preferences in a host of fun settings. Its puzzles are cosy, relaxing and never frustrating. Bex April May

Look Outside

**PC **What if your friendly neighbourhood turned into a waking nightmare? That’s the premise of this RPG-style survival horror set in an apartment complex where unspeakable horrors are going on right outside your window – but whatever you do, you mustn’t look at them, or you risk mutating like your poor, revolting neighbours. Best enjoyed with the curtains drawn. BAM

Deltarune

**PS4/5, Switch, Switch 2, PC **From its tongue-in-cheek writing to its ridiculous creatures, Toby Fox’s episodic role-playing game is charming and witty. Like Undertale before it, Deltarune flips the genre on its head with humour and heart, leaving you itching for more. (The game’s next chapter isn’t until the second half of 2026 at the earliest.) We dare you not to crack a smile at this one. *Vic Hood *

Luto

**PS5, Xbox, PC **This psychological horror immediately tells you what to expect: “This is a story about death.” As Sam, you attempt to escape your home, an increasingly twisted labyrinth of puzzles and memories. Channelling the unsettling atmosphere of Hideo Kojima’s PT, Luto delivers a powerful message about grief and life after loss. VH

Time Flies

**PS5, Switch, PC **You play as a fly in Time Flies, buzzing around different environments – a home or a museum, for instance – doing fly things, such as tickling people’s feet or avoiding lightbulbs. The time you have to complete the fly’s bucket list depends on your actual location, leaving just minutes or seconds to get everything done. Who knew speedrunning a fly’s life could be so delightful? Nicole Carpenter

When you’re having fun … Time Flies. Photograph: Playables / Panic

And Roger

**Switch, PC **And Roger is disorienting, devastating and one of the most emotional games to be released this year. From developer TearyHand Studio, And Roger’s evocative story and simple-yet-distinct art is reminiscent of Mountains’ 2018 release Florence. Within three chapters, a mystery unfolds: Who is this man in the house? Where’s my father? The answers reveal a tragic, beautiful story of love and family. NC

Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To

**Xbox, PC **Soft Not Weak’s Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To is a visual novel, dating simulator, and match-three game all in one. While it’s driven by its classic puzzle gameplay,this is a masterclass in characters and character design: Each individual you meetis just as interesting and well-developed as the last. It’s a must-play for both puzzle fanatics and visual novel lovers. *NC *